Nonslip floor construction



May 17,1927.

'. F. J. TONE NQNSLIP FLO-OR CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 25, 1922 1 w 4 MM? -51.

Patented May 17, 1927. Y

UNITED STATES PATENT oFF cE.

FR NK J. 'roiwri, or NIAGARA rALLs, mew roux, Assrnoa ro THE CARBORUNDUM COMPANY, or NIAGARA rAL s, NEW YORK, A conroaA'rrorr or PENNSYLVANIA.

NONSLIP FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed January 25, 1922) Serial No. 531,772.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a nonslip floor unit or block; and

Figure 2 is a similar view of a broken fragment of floor; both constructed in ac- 5 cordance with my invention.

My invention'relat es to hon-slip floor su rmaterial. Thegrains may be of graded, se-' lected sizes or mixtures of sizes to meet the conditions. The grains are united to-form the slab by means of any suitable'binder,

such as one of a ceramic cement, or other suitable character.

As a typical example, I will describe the use of silicon carbide grains with a ceramic binder for making the preliminary slab or plate. A mixture is made of the following com osition:

Silicon carbide grams in a mixture of sizes from No. 30 to No. 180, 76 parts; feldspar, 18 parts; kaolin, 6 parts. Thisis moistened with water to the consistency of molding sand and then-molded in presses to the 88 form of thin plates or slabs of any suitable thickness. For the purpose of o inary interior floors, I prefer a thickness of from /gt0%0ffilllll0h. Instead of molding in iron molds under 0 hydraulic pressure, it may be .found desirable in some cases to ,use an extruding press from which a continuous late or slab is forced. The dimensions of t e plates or slabs are. not important, and they may be 0 any size convenient for moldingan buming. After molding, the pieces are dried and burned in a kiln at a temperature of aproximatel 1300- 0., at which oint the ond'vitri es and unites the abrasive grains into a hardunitary mass.

After burnin the slabs are broken up into irre lar agments ranging from of an inc to 1 inch in size, each fragment,

of course, having two shaggl or molded sur-' faces, the other surfaces ing irregular in outline. In this step of breaking up, corrugated -rolls or any other convenient means may be employed. I

In forming the flooring by, the use of these fragments, I preferably form a solid base or-main supporting body of Portland cement or other cementitious material. This foundation is then'preferably covered with a layer of about of one-to-three cement mortar, and the non-slip fragments are laid on this-cement layer with their fiat molded surfaces uppermost. -They are placed in irregular order and with small irregular s aces between the fragments so that the fimshed plate has the appearance ofterrazzo. After the pieces are land, they are tamped down and preferably leveled. After setting, they are preferably grouted in with cement'and the surfacesmay then "be finished off b grindin to a plane surface with a grin ing whee rubbing block or otlier suitlable mfians. h 4 I n app ying t e pieces, 1:- e may e, aid by hand, or they may be first fastened'to a.

paper backing in the well known manner of laying mosaic floors. In the latter case. the pieces are laid on the wet cement surfaces with the free surface down and th paper' side up. They may then be pressed down into the plastic cement by means of surface 35 boards or rollers, and after setting, the paper is'isoaked off. They are then grouted zvith cement and-brought to a finished surace.

In the above exam le, I have described the making of floorin aving a surface comgosed of carborun umpieces. This gives a 001 of dark uniform color. But it' is evident that many modifications may be made by using different varieties of abrasives or by using different kinds and colors of the pieces, and different colors of bonding ma.- terial may also be usedto give variegated f colors and effects. For this purpose I inay use aloxite and ,ma employ different colored porcelains and vitreous bodies, in which smaller percentages of'the abrasive are incorporated for non-slip purposes, the color being masked to bonding materials The advantages of my invention will be' obvious to those skilled in the'art since b first forming a molded slab or. plate, whic is then broken up and the pieces in the flo r un t or floor, a m mm or a certain extent by the abrasive is required, this being the expensive part of the material. By having the premolded surface or surfaces, much surface terrazzo type. The irregular shaped pieces are much cheaper to produce than ordinary mosaic, in which each piece must be separately molded, and the cost of molding and burning is considerably higher. Many' variations may be made in the abrasive material, the binder, the method of making the preliminary slab or plate. the manner of breaking the slab, etc., without departing from my invention. A

I claim: 4

1'. A non-slip floor surface including a supporting mass of cement having plane- 2 which they are'embedded and exposed to faced fragments of a flat slab of abrasive material embedded in the upper surface thereof to a uniform de th and with the agments substanpresent a tread surface.

I 2. A non-slip floor surface including a supporting mass of cement having planefaced irregular fragments of a fiat slab of abrasive material embedded in the upper surface thereofto a uniform depth and with the plane upper faces of the fragments substantially flush with the surface of the mass in which they are embedded and exposed to present a tread surface, the said fragments being non-uniformly scattered over'the surface in relatively close proximity to each other.

3. The method of forming a non-slip floor which consists in forming abrasive material into slabs having substantially flat faces and of substantially uniform thickness, shattering such slabs to obtain irregular substan- 'tially fiat-faced fragments of substantially uniform thickness-and then embedding such fragments to a substantially uniform depth in a plastic cementitious mass with one of the substantially flat faces of each piece exposed and substantially flush with the cementitious mass, and with the most of the fragments out of contact with other fragments whereby the cementitious material surrounds the fragments to firmly secure them in place.

In testimony whereof I have. hereunto set myhand.

FRANK J. TONE. 

